Forgotten Mages
by ThaliaofAvalon
Summary: Emily, Kara, and Adriane had their adventures nearly a decade ago. Now, a new trio of mages are in town. Dangerous happenings lead the three down separate paths. Six years after losing their memories of magic, the three meet again in a war where the boundaries between worlds and good and evil are blurred. How can you cure a curse with True Love, if you don't believe in it?
1. Friends Forever

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Thalia and my own free will. Sometimes I wonder about that too… Am I being mind-controlled? Is my mind being constantly read? Am I being studied by the government? Sometimes I think defiantly at whomever might be reading my mind, "Ha. You will never understand as much as I do about my own head, no matter how long you study me! Because I'm still smarter than you!" I wonder how they'd react… but anyway, I digress. Onto the story we go! **

Six Years Ago

A new girl showed up at school. This would have been considered ordinary, but for the fact that it was the middle of the school year. _Nobody _showed up at _this_ school in the middle of the year. If it had been a rich prep school, maybe, but this was just an ordinary public school, right in the center of the poorer section of town. The new girl had blond hair and blue eyes, and was unusually short for a fourth grader. She was smart, too – she had to be, to be in the advanced class. Word had it that that her mother had practically stalked the director of the advanced program until she would put her daughter in, because the girl was too smart for her old teacher.

One of the unfortunate things about being transferred to a new school halfway through the year was that by this time, cliques had already been established. Everybody hung out with their own group, and nobody else. They all avoided strangers, who might upset the ticking order. This meant that New Girl was stuck by herself at recess on that lonely first day.

Of course, when an advanced third grader with deep, reddish – brown hair and brilliant green eyes walked over to New Girl, heads turned. Everybody pretended not to be watching, to be busy with the play equipment or something, but nobody was really focusing on their games. They were all watching Different Girl talking to New Girl. New Girl smiled at something Different Girl had said, and Different Girl helped her to her feet. They walked away to meet up with Another Girl, and spent the rest of recess pacing the full length of the field. The watchers turned back to their pointless games and conversations. She was no danger to them; she'd been inducted into the Unpopulars.

A few weeks later, New Girl, whose name was Thalia, Different Girl, whose name was Audrey, and another girl, redheaded Mckenna, were walking together under the shadow of a cloudy day, discussing something Thalia was holding in her hand.

"I'm _telling _you," she was saying. "I think it's about us, or people like us." The object in her hand, upon closer inspection, was a little book she had gotten from her aunt two years ago, but hadn't bothered to read until recently. The cover showed three girls, who looked remarkably like the three of them, staring in awe at a rainbow - glowing Stone. '_Avalon' _it read, in curving, curling, colorful handwriting.

"But we don't have magical powers," Mckenna pointed out.

"Maybe we just haven't discovered them yet!" Thalia pulled something out of her pocket. "I was in my backyard yesterday, and I found this." She held the rainbow-striped stone up to the book, as if to compare them. The three looked from the stone to the book, looking for all the world just like the book cover. _It looked nearly identical – _except for one thing.

"Yours isn't glowing." Apparently, Audrey spoke too soon, as it flared to glowing life. "Cool!"

"I want one!" exclaimed Mckenna. Thalia grinned and turned the pages of the book until she found what she was looking for.

"Of course you do, Mckenna – or should I say, Kara?" The girls read the description of Kara's first encounter with Emily's stone.

Of course, the girls weren't _really _the three mages on the cover, but to their young minds, that seemed to be the only answer. Actually, their resemblance to the famous mages was simply a coincidence, but to a child encountering magic, there are no such things as coincidences. Consequently, the three made many incorrect assumptions in the future, when Audrey, and later Mckenna, found her Stone.

Two months later, the three girls were standing hand in hand in the center of their school's field. Recess had ended hours ago, and the girls were dimly aware that they would get in trouble later. But that didn't matter right now. What mattered right now was that a dark, silky, shimmering portal was opening up before them. Somehow, they knew that they could not let this portal open, whatever happened. Thalia glanced at her two friends, and suddenly had a vision of a future where they were apart, and had forgotten the magic they shared. She shivered, horrified at a world without magic and her friends. She nodded wordlessly to them, and they raised their braceleted wrists defiantly to the sky.

"_For Avalon!" _If you'd been there, you would have seen three beams of beautiful light, one ice blue, one vibrant green, and one red-gold. You would have seen the portal shatter, heard an unearthly screech, heard three very earthly screams. You would have felt a wave of pure force tear past you, with a ripping sound. You would have felt the ground shake. Then you would have heard compete silence. You would have no memory of the whole event.

The three girls got to their feet.

"Oh no! We're late to class!" one of them said. They rushed into the little outbuilding that was their classroom. Lying on the dead grass were three shattered stones, unnoticed amidst the littering of gravel.


	2. Friends Forgotten

**Disclaimer: ****_"The only certain things in life are death and taxes" – Ben Franklin. _****Who knows? Tomorrow I might suddenly and mysteriously inherit the rights to Avalon. Somehow I doubt it. **

Three Years Ago (from now, not last chapter)

Thalia was at some church event. She could never remember what it was afterward. It wasn't really that important. What _was _important was the brief encounter that happened there.

"So… - Prep*?" Thalia glanced towards the source of the voice, surprised anyone was speaking to her. Thalia tended to be invisible (not literally) in public spaces; people spoke to their friends and remarkably good-looking people, but not Thalia. Thalia was simply average; she got a casual mix of A's, B's, and C's, she looked ordinary, she never wore anything that made her stand out. What was different about this time?

The girl had reddish-brown hair and familiar, knowing, green eyes. Thalia stood speechless, and nodded. The girls hadn't parted on the best of terms, and Thalia suddenly thought of the scene in pretty much every cop movie, where the police say "_Anything you say can and will be used against you."_ By the time she decided to say something, Audrey was long gone. Thalia walked away from the church late that evening with the distinct feeling that her life would never be the same again. Since fourth grade, her life had been normal, but things were about to get interesting.

***I didn't name the prep school because I didn't want to use a name that was already taken, and lots of older authors used a dash, so I did too.**


	3. Newfound Friends

**Disclaimer: I am not the proud owner of the Avalon Web of Magic series. I am just an ordinary somebody who wanted to tell a story.**

Two Years Ago from Today Flashback

_ "__Umm… You're going to lose a useful key?" _

_ "__Yes, that's exactly what you said! You said I would lose a key and I did! I lost my key-shaped bookmark just yesterday! How do you always know what's going to happen?" Mckayla was Thalia's best friend, and she had just discovered Thalia's prophetic ability._

_ "__My mom says it's a gift from God, my dad says it's a coincidence-"_

_ "__What do you think?"_

_ "__I don't know – magic?" Mckayla's eyes widened in excitement._

_ "__You believe in magic?" she asked in a whisper._

Sometime This Year

Mckenna was sitting on the couch, knees pressed to her chest, concentrating on a game on her phone that required her to match candies. _Come on! _She thought._ If only that candy were orange… _Suddenly, before her eyes, it changed. She gasped. Her boyfriend, Mark, looked up, concerned, from his video game he was playing against his brother.

"You okay, 'Kenna?" She nodded.

"For a second I thought I changed the color of a candy with my mind, but I probably just imagined it." Mark laughed at her.

"I think you've been playing that game for too long, 'Kenna. Come help me beat Andy with your 'powers'." She did.


	4. Friendless

**Disclaimer: My last name is not Roberts, nor has it ever been. Therefore, unless I am an imposter, I do not own the rights to Avalon Web of Magic. I own a copy. Or do I? Can anyone ever really own anything? Does all property belong to all of humanity? Does my act of reading it count as putting work and effort into it, making it my property according to John Locke? Or, was there ever really private property to begin with, as Marx suggests? Leaving you with that heavily debated question, here's the story.**

Present Day (roughly)

Audrey was fighting for her life. Of the three, she had been the first to rediscover her powers. When she was eleven, she'd accidentally lit a tree on fire with her mind alone. She had been terrified at first, fearing that the magic was evil and it would consume her, but gradually, she had warmed up to it. She still had no memory of sharing magic with Mckenna or Thalia, but she was learning quickly on her own. Her instincts, talents, abilities she had picked up from her early years came back to her slowly. By the time she was twelve, the monsters and creatures had begun coming to her; some to be saved, others to destroy. Today, she was fighting a Daarkbyrd.

A Daarkbyrd was, at first glance, an abnormally large crow, or perhaps a raven. The Daarktouch was a terrible sickness of the mind that arose from contact with the claws of the beast. At first, the victim would feel fine. After a month, however, the victim would delve into evil, seek out violence, and develop a loathing for his fellow creatures. Finally, the victim would seek power – at all costs. The bird had been going after an innocent child when Audrey had spotted it. The child had, by now, run away screaming, but Audrey fought on, sending blazes of red-gold light towards the evil bird.

Every time she was about to hit the Daarkbyrd, it would teleport to the other side of her, in a cloud of shadow with a sharp sucking sound. She closed her eyes and held perfectly still, feeling for the Dark Magic with her aura. She suddenly sensed it reappear. She could tell it was growing tired, and planned to close in on her soon.

Eyes still closed, she whirled around and shot a jet of flame – colored magic towards the bird. She felt it get hit, and could feel its anger swirling around it. Too late, she felt it reappear right in front of her and scratch her cheek. In an instant, she banished it to whatever realm it had come from, but the damage had already been done.

She had been infected with the evil venom of the Daarkbyrd, whose curse could only be broken with True Love! Not True Love's Kiss, mind you – TLK is only effective in Soulcurses or Deathstop Healing. The cure was True Love itself – an item difficult to find in the Romantic Era, let alone our modern world. To make matters worse – Audrey did not believe in True Love.

When I speak of True Love, I do not necessarily refer to romantic attraction. In fact, True Love is least often of that sort. By True Love, I mean an unconditional, selfless, all – forgiving love of one creature for another. That sort is really rare, and unlikely to be encountered in a lifetime. So here Audrey was, with an incurable curse that would cause her to lose her humanity. What was she to do?


	5. Friends of Dreams Past

**Disclaimer: I didn't write the Avalon Web of Magic Series.**

_Thalia was dreaming. She could always tell when she was – everything always seemed too real. She could see the individual blades of grass, the fur on the bees, the tiny 'MADE IN CHINA' on the plastic bracelet on the grass. _

_Suddenly, the scene shimmered, showing a different bracelet lying on the grass. This bracelet was just a leather band, lying on the ground beside a shattered stone. Thalia frowned. This sort of thing didn't happen often. It usually only occurred when she was trying to remember something. She focused on the leather bracelet, making it become bolder and more solid. _

_She walked over and picked it up. Then she looked down at the shattered pieces of stone. She reached to pick those up as well. As soon as her fingers touched one of the pieces, they all began to glow and vibrate. The ground began to rumble and shake, forming cracks in the earth of the dried-grass field; thunder roared and the sky grew dark. The pieces suddenly sprang together with a vibrating _clack_, like a pair of round stone magnets tossed in the air. _

_She jerked back as the re-formed stone practically exploded with light, as beams of color, bright as lasers, came out from it in all directions. Yet, somehow, despite the blinding light, she could still see the stone itself. Perhaps by now, it was burned into her retinas. She caught her breath as it rose into the air. She held her hand out towards it, hoping to catch it. It landed on her outstretched palm. _

_Suddenly, lightning struck the ground right beside her. She closed her hand around the stone tightly as she whirled around. A girl about her age was lying on the ground, breathing hard, eyes greener than fresh grass on a rainy day. She sat up, looking around desperately, until she saw Thalia. With surprise, Thalia felt the girl reaching out with her mind, instead of trying to speak, which would have been harder. This girl was clearly experienced in DreamShifts. _

Thalia?_ The other girl's thought voice sounded familiar, but in this lucid-dreaming state, Thalia couldn't place it. _Who are you? _Thalia asked._

It's me. Audrey.


	6. Friendship Fixed

**Disclaimer: I didn't invent this multiverse. I didn't need to. I have my own. My parents call it planet Thalia. Which is totally inaccurate, because it really consists of fourteen planets...**

_Audrey? That was impossible. Audrey didn't have magic! Audrey hated her! Thalia hadn't thought about Audrey in years. So why was Audrey in her dream? The only way she could have gotten here was if she had practiced DreamShifting. And DreamShifting required magical powers, and an intent to travel... _

Why are you here? _Thalia asked. _

I need your help.

My help?_ Thalia was surprised. After all this time, Audrey came to her, of all people, for help? _

As a mage._ That shocked Thalia._

How do you know about –

I would ask you the same, except I guess we were probably originally friends because of our destiny as mages, and now we both have powers, and now you probably hate me.

Me? Hate you? Why would I hate you? You're the one who hates me! _Audrey raised her eyebrows in surprise._

So this hating eachother and not speaking for six years was all just a misunderstanding?

Yeah… I guess so. Wow.

That was a waste of six years of my life.

Yup.


	7. What Are Friends For?

**Disclaimer: I didn't write the books**.

"Wow. So you're saying the only cure for your curse is –"

"True Love."

"Which doesn't exist so…"

"I'm going to turn evil."

"According to Freidrich Nietzsche, 'There is no good or evil, only power and-"

"Those too weak to seize it.' Yeah. I know. So, I sort of felt like I should warn you that unless we manage to find something that doesn't exist soon, I'm going to turn into a power – hungry dark mage and probably come after you and everyone you care about."

"Sounds like fun."

"Not really."

"So, what do you recommend?"

"I…" Aubrey cringed. "Look, if I go through with it, if I really turn evil… I want you to be the one to stop me. You're the only one who can. We both know I was always the most powerful…"

"Do you know what you're asking me to do?"

"Kill me, if you must."

"How can I…"

"I don't want to hurt people. I need you to stop me, when the time comes. I need you to do this; just this one thing. I'll never ask anything of you again –"

"Yeah, 'cause you'll be dead!"

"Just please, for the sake of our lost friendship, for the sake of the world, for Avalon, promise me that you'll stop me, however you must. Please." Thalia sank to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"I swear," Thalia whispered, "but I will try to save you. At least give me that."

"Okay. Thank you."

The scene faded away. Thalia woke up in her room, staring at the ceiling. To her surprise, her hand seemed to be flashing with ice blue light. She looked down at the crystal that had come out of her dream. It must have been real!


	8. Assassins and Friends

**Disclaimer: I didn't invent this multiverse.**

_Six months later… _

The brunette pulled a dagger out of the man's chest. He had actually put up decent resistance to her mind control and Black Lightning. However, she'd surprised him by using her newfound ability to ShadowShift to stab him. The look in his eyes as he died was somehow hurt and sympathetic at the same time. _Two more souls,_ she thought. _I only need two more souls before I gain the ability to take powers from mages. _The dagger was black, with a dark brown stain on the hilt. Green eyes stared down at the dead man as she sheathed the dagger, stepped back and vanished in a cloud of shadow. A girl with straight red hair was next on the scene, kneeling by the man's side. She touched her fingers to the man's forehead, closing her eyes. She watched his last memory flash before her pale eyes. She recognized the assassin. _Audrey._


	9. Another Friend

**Disclaimer: I didn't invent this multiverse – I just had a story to tell that was based off the books.**

Thalia was standing outside her neighbor Roman's house, desperately ringing his doorbell again and again. Finally he opened the door.

"God, Thalia, I was doing homework!" She started telling him about her dream. He slipped outside, closing the door behind him. By the end, he was shaking his head. "Thalia, it was just a dream! It didn't mean anything! There's no such thing as magic, or a Daarkbyrd, or a dark mage trying to take over the world! Quit freaking out!"

The stone on her bracelet started glowing. It got brighter and brighter, washing over the walls of his house and the concrete beneath their feet, outshining the sun with icy light. Roman's eyes widened. He sucked in a breath. Thalia frowned at him.

"Was that a good enough answer for you?" He nodded, staring at the fading light of her magic stone.

Apparently, Roman hadn't been completely honest with Thalia. The two were sitting cross-legged on his bed, holding their magical stones. Roman's stone was amber-colored, with an opaque orange streak down the middle, in the shape of a flame.

"I can't believe you never told me!" Thalia complained.

"I had no idea you were a mage. So what's the backstory on this Audrey girl?" Thalia pursed her lips, thinking.

"I didn't know she was a mage. She was my best friend in fourth grade. She's exactly 365 days younger than me, but she was born in a leap year after February, so it's 365. She was scratched by a Daarkbyrd, turning her evil, but the only cure is true love, which doesn't exist, so –"

"Wait," Roman interrupted, "are you saying you don't believe in true love?" Thalia stared at him the way she would have, had he asked 'are you saying you don't believe in my imaginary friend's puppy dog?'.

"Uh… Yeah. Nobody does anything purely selfless. If I sacrifice myself for someone I care about, it's because I can't live without them. If I give food to the poor, it's to make me feel good and improve my reputation. True Love is about being selfless, caring about someone. Some people say True Love is about always being there for the person you love, knowing everything about them, and fighting off other suitors. You know what we call people like that nowadays? We call them_stalkers_!"

**Okay, so I want your input. Does True Love exist? If so, Audrey has a chance. If not, we're going to have to kill her. Either way, the story will go on, so answer impartially to the story. It would be great if you could include your reasoning too, because I'd like to have either Thalia or Roman use your reasoning. If nobody reviews, I'm killing off Audrey.**

**...v...**

**Seriously? It's been two months! Fine! I'm killing off Audrey!**


	10. Magical Friends

**Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to this series. Since none of you reviewed on Audrey's fate or the existence of True Love, Audrey will DIE. If someone reviews that Audrey should live in the next 48 hours, even without reasoning, you can still save her. If not… I will continue under the assumption that there is no such thing as True Love, and therefore Audrey will die. I will assume by the lack of reviews that none of you believes in True Love, or all of you want her dead. Sorry. All I asked for was a response, for a little friendly discussion. Oh well. **

"Fair enough." conceded Roman. "Believe what you will. If there is no such thing as True Love, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know!" Thalia responded helplessly. "We have to stop her somehow! She's killing people as we speak! I can feel it!"

"Do you know any other mages?"

"No, just you and – that's it!"

"That's all?"

"No, I meant… Never mind. Mckenna – she was a friend of mine back when Audrey and I were still friends… Maybe Mckayla… And then there was stalker boy…"

"Do we really want to ask your stalker for help?"

"We need all the help we can get."

"Wait… If the description of True Love is the same as 'stalker', does that mean stalker boy is in True Love with you?"

"Gosh, I hope not. Anyway, is your brother a mage?"

"My sister thinks she's a witch."

"Can she do magic?"

"I don't know."

"Let's go find out."

**Review if you want to save Audrey.**


	11. My Best Friend's Sister

**Yay for the mysterious guest! Audrey will live! Meanwhile, though… **

Thalia marched down the hall to Roman's sister's room.

"Wait! Thalia! You can't just march in there and ask her if she has magical powers!"

"Watch me. When the world and my friends are at stake, nothing can stand in my way – certainly not manners." The door to Acadia's room flew open with a flick of Thalia's wrist. Acadia whirled around, surprised.

"What the –"

"Do you have magical powers?"

"Uh… I'm a witch."

"Prove it."

"Why should I have to prove anything to you?"

"The world's at stake, maybe even your brother's life."

"And I care why?" Thalia gritted her teeth.

"I don't have time for this. Either you have powers and you help me, or you don't." Acadia bit her lip.

"Fine." She leaned over and pulled the blinds on her window shade closed. In the dim light, Thalia and Roman watched carefully as she reached into her mess of black hair and pulled out a reflective black stone bead. She held it up so Thalia and her brother could see it.

Now that it wasn't hidden by waves of hair, Thalia could see that a faint, iridescent streak ran down the center. She whispered, "Let there be light," and the stone glowed with a shimmering purple light, switching to green and then blue. Thalia raised her eyebrows as her own wrist momentarily flashed blinding ice-blue light.

"Well then. Let the fun begin."

**Yay! In case you forgot, I don't really own anybody. I hope this was at least vaguely amusing. **


	12. Old Friends

**Hi! I'm back! Feeling randomly inspired! Don't own anything. **

There are many problems with trying to save the world in the middle of August. One of them is the excessive heat. Another is school. So, while people were dying and using magic, Thalia was sitting in math class doing Trigonometry.

"Stupid triangles all look the same…" She grumbled. The recently-blonde Goth girl next to her snorted.

"Is something funny, Angel?" The teacher asked. She shook her head, trying not to laugh, but she did anyway.

"Sorry. I think I'm just hungry. I don't suppose there's any way you could let us out for lunch early?" The teacher frowned and shook his head.

"You know better than that. Trust me, all these equations are going to help you in the long run." Angel and Thalia both groaned at the idea that they would need these equations for even harder math, next year.

Maybe Thalia imagined it, but she thought she saw the sleeve of the girl's sweater light up. She knew only one thing that would light up when its wearer was frustrated… She decided to talk to Angel after class.

o-o-o-0-o-o-o

As Thalia was rushing after Angel, she ran smack into the principal.

"Sorry Miss Davies." Miss Davies frowned. Then shrugged.

"That's all right. I was looking for – oh, never mind. I see her. Emily! Over here!" You'd think that in her quest to save the world and locate mages, Thalia would have noticed Emily's bracelet flash as she passed her, or recall that Miss Davies' first name was Kara. However, in her hurry to talk to Angel, she rushed right past the only adults who could have helped her. Even if she realized who they were later, it would be too late. Miss Davies and her friend Emily were flying home to Pennsylvania that night, not to return for two weeks. She didn't even notice her own bracelet flash ice-blue as she brushed Miss Davies' arm. Oh, well – it seems our young mages are on their own. We can only hope that they have what it takes to save the day.

**That last part was for** madfox01 .** I'll get back to you all later! Goodbye for now! – ThaliaofAvalon.**


	13. Friends Again

**Disclaimer: I did not write the books. If I had, there would be WAY more Spellsinging. Magic through music is just awesome. Besides, this story isn't really about the books... Why didn't I update? Calculus and Physics are taking over my life. However, my muses have been musing (pun intended), and they have returned me to the world of Fanfiction. So, I'm back! **

Present day:

"Angel!" Thalia ran after her, lunchbox in hand. "Hi. I need to talk to you about something." Angel raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Why me?" Thalia held her wrist up, letting the sleeve of her sweater slip down, showing her stone as it flashed icy light. Angel's eyes widened, and she dragged Thalia into the girl's bathroom. "You have one too?" she hissed. Thalia nodded. Angel stepped back and let go of Thalia's arm, which she'd been holding onto tightly. "We've known eachother since the third grade. How did I not know about this?"

"You never mentioned yours." Angel shrugged.

"Fair enough." She held up her aqua blue bracelet. It flashed brightly as Angel leaned against the wall. There was a click. The lights went out. A bunch of girls screamed. Thalia briefly wondered if this was some sort of magical attack. Then Angel yelled, "Sorry!" and flipped the light switch.

They hurried out of there, so nobody could identify them. They went giggling uncontrollably into the cafeteria. "So…" Angel asked, as they set their lunches on a red table, "Why now?" Thalia glanced around to make sure nobody was looking or listening. She whispered,

"I need your help." Apparently, it was a bit too loud in there for speaking in whispers. Angel yelled,

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Thalia sighed. This was going to be a challenge.


	14. Sarcastic Friends

**Disclaimer: I have not yet published anything. Sorry for not updating. I have multiple excuses, but I'm sure you don't want to hear them. Also, my new favorite band is Nickelback now. **

Last August (where we were previously)

"So… Basically, the best friend you replaced me with in fourth grade turned out to be a murderer?"

"Jeez, Angel, are you still mad about that?"

"Only a little. I still don't understand why you don't want to kill her."

"Angel! She was my best friend!"

"She betrayed you!"

"So? I'm over it!"

"Is that why you write her in as an antagonist to every story you've ever written?"

"It was just the one! Besides, who else was I supposed to write in as the antagonist? She's the only person who I ever thought hated me."

"It's called imagination."

"Shut up. We need to figure out how to stop her."

"Didn't she say the cure was True Love?"

"Maybe it's a metaphor."

"Yeah, right. Because when the world's at stake, it's _always_ a_ metaphor_."

"How about _SARCASM?"_

"Point taken. So, metaphors?"


	15. Kidnapped Guy Friends

**Disclaimer: Surprise! I'm back! Somehow, I haven't managed to secure the rights to Avalon, Web of Magic (yet). **

Sometime in September

Thalia normally wouldn't be watching TV. Then again, her eighth-grade-crush didn't normally get kidnapped. Somehow, she knew who'd taken him. She couldn't go to the police. She had no evidence, except the fact that her magical ex-best friend turned evil because of a teleporting bird, and that she was now using Matty as bait. She hadn't even seen him in two years! She seriously doubted the cops would believe her. She picked up her cell phone, a sinking suspicion in the back of her mind. She typed in the numbers from memory.

_Calling… Roman_, the screen read. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. It went to voicemail. _Hi, this is Roman. Please leave a message._ Thalia hung up.

She called her ex-boyfriend next.

_This number has been disconnected._

So that was Audrey's plan. It was a trap, and Thalia knew it, but she was going to walk right into it anyway. She called Angel. Fortunately, she answered. Thalia explained what was going on, and what she was about to do.

"Yikes, Thalia. That sounds bad. Is there any way I can help?"

"Wake me up when September ends."


	16. Friends Make You Homeless

**Disclaimer: Somehow, I didn't acquire the rights to Avalon Web of Magic since my last post.**

September ends.

Thalia was regretting her choice to run away from home. Being a homeless runaway was actually rather challenging. Fortunately for her, she had magic, but using magic to steal a hot dog was not very satisfying.

She still had no leads where Audrey wanted to meet her, and she hadn't showered in weeks. She was even debating returning home, when she heard someone's car radio sound off an emergency alert.

"_There has been a recent terrorist attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is unclear if there are further attacks planned, but American citizens are advised to return home immediately."_

So. Audrey wanted to meet her in Tennessee? Thalia knew very well that every time the government claimed there was a terrorist attack, it was really a magical battle or some dark mage sending a message (9/11? That was one of the biggest fights of the century. Two mages mind-controlled people into crashing planes into one-another's offices. Only one mage survived).

Thalia found an old car, picked the lock, and used her stone for a drill and a screwdriver to hotwire it **(instructions for hotwiring a car can be found on wiki how)**.

"Tennessee, here I come."


	17. Old Friends Meet Again

**Disclaimer: I am all powerful, and own everything! Just kidding. I have a laptop and a cat, neither of which I technically own (my laptop can be taken away and my cat is a living being). That's all I ever wanted from life anyhow. Well, that and a boyfriend. Who knows what life will bring? I don't own the thing I hinted at either. Congratulations if you get it. **

_November_

It was raining. Mckenna was slipping in and out of consciousness, Guns N' Roses blasting in her ears in the early hours of the morning.

"Nghh. Mark! How many times have I told you not to wake me up early on a Sunday?" She grumbled.

When she opened her eyes, it was to a dreary gray sky and an empty park. She now remembered where she was. "Oh. Great. Another day of being homeless." She frowned. She wasn't wearing headphones. She didn't have a phone or any kind of music player. Where was the music coming from?

She turned around to find that someone was leaning against her bench, staring down at her. Someone who looked just like her old friend Thalia.

…

_Later_

"I work alone, Thalia. I don't need your help."

"Everybody needs some time on their own. I know it's hard to keep an open heart when even friends seem out to harm you."

"My ex-friend is literally killing people."

"Mine too. I guess we have a common cause, then. We should work together."

"What are we even going to do? How do we find her True Love?"

"So that's a yes, then?"

"Whatever. She's so full of darkness, though. How do we know she didn't kill him?"

"Never mind the darkness, 'Kenna . We still can find a way. I may not believe in True Love, but I bet there's some way to save her."

"You recognize that we might not be able to save her, right? You know what we'll have to do."

"What I'LL have to do. And that's not going to happen. You hear me? We're saving Audrey, even if we can't save anyone else. Even if she kills every one of us."

"That was both a really optimistic declaration and a scary one."

"I'm kinda good at those."

"You do realize you can't carry the weight of the world, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't your fault, Thalia. It isn't your responsibility to fix everything."

"Of course it is. If I'd been a decent friend, we might all be in a coffeeshop right now, talking about boys instead of being car thieves and hobos."

"You weren't the person to blame. She got scratched by a magical bird, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"Did you send the bird?"

"No."

"Then how could it be your fault?"


End file.
